Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Fertilization PH and Water Lillies

I just filled my 1.1 acre pond this past fall with well water and have been keeping it full with canal water that comes from the Gila River. After reading one of the recent articles from the Pond Boss magazine on water lilies I planted some last fall just after the pond was full using 40 gallon plastic feed troughs as planters (the pond was built with a liner). This spring I kept waiting for the lilies to take off but they never did, I could see that they were still alive, but they were not sending up any new growth, they were staying with their winter leaves and not sending up any pads. After closer inspection by breaking off a leaf the plant looks like it is barely holding on. I did a PH test on the water and it is reading at the 9 level. What is the best method of lowering the PH? Acid? If so how much acid and what kind for a 1.1 acre pond that is about 13 feet at its deepest? I think that once treated it will be ok since I am now useing river water to keep full. Any help/advice would be great.

No takers on this one? One of the reasons for my problem after doing some more research is that I have a lot of cement and block that is unerwater (~60 yards plus the block)that is leaching lime into the pond. I wonder how long it would take to stabilize on its own? I have continous river water going in so that must help, however there is no outflow, just keeping up with evaporation. Here is chart that I found that deals with pools. So if I have a 1 acre pond that averages 5 feet deep and an acre foot of water is 312500 gallons ... 5*312,500 = 1,562,500 gallons in the pond /50,000 = 31.25 * 1.25 = 39 gallons of Muriatic Acid to get me to the 7.6 range. Granted I dont need to go that far down the chart but it is interesting...

Chart No. 2 - Lowering pH with Muriatic Acid
(If pH is over 7.6, add this amount of acid, then retest)

GALLONS IN POOL
pH 1,000 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 50,000
7.6-7.8 1 1/4 oz. 6 oz. 12 oz. 18 oz. 24 oz. 1 qt. 2 qts.
7.8-8.0 1 1/2 oz. 8 oz. 16 oz. 24 oz. 1 qt. 1 1/4 qts. 2 1/2 qts.
8.0-8.4 2 1/2 oz. 12 oz. 24 oz. 1 1/4 qts. 1 1/2 qts. 2 qts. 1 gal.
Over 8.4 3 oz. 16 oz. 1 qt. 1 1/4 qts. 2 qts. 2 1/2 qts. 1 1/4 gal.

Factors which affect pH:
Lowers pH Acid Gas Chlorine Trichlor Chlorine Dichlor Chorine Rain Water Alum Organic Litter Make up Water

You may want to add another 2 gallons of muratic to those calcs. I think an acre foot is 325,851 gallons.